Beijing, 28 October 2014 (ECA) - Experiences from Asia, Latin America and European countries 'in transition', which have some similarities in terms of land governance systems to Africa’s own systems, were extremely useful to Africa as the continent formed its agenda on land policy, and would continue to be critical to Africa’s success in developing frameworks, policies and tools to address land governance issues, said Ms. Joan Kagwanja, Chief of the Land Policy Initiative of the Economic Commission for Africa.
Ms. Kagwanja was speaking as a special guest at the International Conference on "land Governance in Emerging and Developing countries: Research Updates and Strategic Collaboration," organized by the International Land Coalition (ILC), Renmin University of China, China Land Science Society (CLSS), China Land Surveying and planning Institute CLSPI. The Conference was held under the auspices of the ILC's 'Framing the Debate Series' and attracted policy makers, scholars and civil society on land issues where findings from the China study and share experiences and perspectives from other emerging economies and developing countries.
She noted that decisions made in China, including its strategic direction for agricultural development and economic partnerships with Africa, had great implications for land governance, use and management on the African continent.
She therefore called for partnerships and collaboration between African and Chinese universities, government institutions to engage each other at the continental level in support of good land governance and responsible agricultural investments.
The results of studies from previous 'Framing the Debate' series (Africa, Asia, Brazil) were presented. Renown experts from China, India, Nepal, Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, Hungary, Russia, Germany, Italy, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Peru, Brazil and USA also provided perspectives based on their land governance research and experiences.
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